Huskies split weekend games while Lumber Barons rematch looms

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — After games this weekend, the Fort St. John Huskies have halved their regulation season losses from last season in just 5 games after splitting two games to finish September. 

To put it into perspective, during last season it took until mid-November – and 18 games – for the Huskies to lose its second game in regulation, en route to losing four non-shootout games in the 2024-25 Strike Group North West Junior Hockey League (NWJHL) season.

Still, it’s not enough for head coach Todd Alexander to hit the panic button. 

“We have definitely had our inconsistencies thus far trying to figure a few things out offensively,” said Alexander. “Overall, our structure is coming along. We were a little bit misfortunate to lose that game on Saturday. I thought that we carried the bulk of the play.

“I think that we can still improve there, but overall I think that we have a pretty good understanding of what we’re trying to do. I knew that it would take time with the amount of changes that we made this year.”

On Friday, September 26th, the Huskies continued their season-opening seven game road trip against the Sexsmith Vipers, who had split wins and losses to begin the NWJHL season.

Behind a two-goal performance by forward Jonny Timmons, the Pups roared to victory with a score of 6-3.  

Other scorers included Xavier Burgher, Carver Lequiere, Kooper Volk and Ryan Ungstad.

Alexander said of Timmons, who played the latter part of last year with a high-ankle sprain: “He is  a little bit stronger than what he was last year, and he’s got a confidence to him that I really like, where he’s going out and shooting the puck first and not over-handling it.”

The next night in Peace River, the North Peace defence shut the potent Huskies offence down, with team captain Grayden Alexander getting the only goal in a 3-1 loss.

In beating the Huskies, who outshot the Navigators 37-19, North Peace took the lead in the NWJHL’s East/West Division by one point.

Navigators goaltender Evan Norman was up to the task, making 36 stops to lead his team to the win.

Fort St. John’s next game will be a two-game series against the La Crete Lumber Barons in a rematch of last season’s NWJHL finals in La Crete at the Raymond Knelsen Arena beginning on Saturday, October 4th at 7 p.m.

“They are a strong team. They usually are, and they do a good job in their own barn.” said Alexander. “We always look forward to hitting the road and getting together with the team. It will be nice to get on the road with everybody for a full weekend and bond a little bit and then play some games that are tough.”

The second game will occur the following afternoon, Sunday, October 5th beginning at 1:30 p.m.  For more details, visit the Huskies Facebook, Instagram or website.